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ResistSD! Progressive Calendar for San Diego February 16-March 1, 2017

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More than two dozen ways to get involved

Congress will be taking a break next week to listen to their constituents, except for the 200 Republican members of the House of Representatives who refuse contact with the public.

By contrast, in the first two months of 2015, Republicans held 222 in-person events.

Donald Trump is already campaigning for 2020, and as was true with his last launch event, people are being paid to be there.

So what can you do? There’s plenty of local activism to support. Check out this week’s Progressive Calendar listings   [Read more…]

Rebel Action Network Urges Everyone to Participate in the F17 General Strike

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Information provided by the Rebel Action Network

Strikes Work. Here’s Why:

Individually, our strength is inconsistent. Collectively, we’re indefensible. When a few hundred thousand citizens coordinate, we can bring the powerful US economy to a grinding halt. And without America’s formidable economic strength, the government is redundant. They need cashflow & the tacit permission from all citizens in order to work. Friday we’ll withhold both in our collective show of strength.

While other resistance organizations are organizing rallies & symbolic gestures of protest, we Rebels are getting down to high-impact business.

Here’s what you need to do in three easy steps:   [Read more…]

Constituents Buy Newspaper Ad Seeking Rep. Issa Town Hall Appearance

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Several hundred people crowdfunded a full page ad in the Union-Tribune on Tuesday, inviting Congressman Darrell Issa to a town hall in Vista on February 21.

For weeks now people in the 49th Congressional district have been calling, writing, and even picketing hoping to get Issa to directly engage with them on issues of concern, especially what in store for them with the promised repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

The wily congressman tried to dodge the issue by staging a “telephone conference” involving carefully screened callers. He rolled out a proposal for ‘accessible’ health care, hoping people wouldn’t notice they’d have no way to afford it. It didn’t work.   [Read more…]

Local Organizations Call On San Diego City Council To Sign Amicus Brief in Muslim Ban Lawsuit

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ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties

We, the undersigned civil society and business organizations, urge the San Diego City Council to join the City of Chicago in filing an amicus curiae brief in State of Washington vs. Donald Trump to denounce the U.S. Government’s suspension of refugee admissions and its unconstitutional ban on admissions of citizens of seven Muslim- majority countries. The executive order that established these policies violates fundamental principles of human rights and bedrock tenets of Constitutional law; and it betrays our values as a nation of immigrants and as San Diegans. Its implementation has had cruel and arbitrary consequences for many people fleeing persecution or seeking to enter the United States to reunite with family, receive medical treatment, or pursue professional and educational opportunities.   [Read more…]

The Winter of Our Discontent Deepens as Trumpettes Party

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By William Ray

It’s doubtful Donald Trump ever read The Winter of Our Discontent, John Steinbeck’s 1961 novel about greed, xenophobia, and corruption in Eisenhower-era America. But for fans of Steinbeck like me, the winter of America’s discontent under Trump is deeply troubling, despite fans of The Donald.

Add one word to the line from Richard III quoted in Steinbeck’s title—“Now is the winter of our discontent/Made glorious summer by this sun of New York”—and Shakespeare’s metaphor for a usurping tyrant from English history aptly expresses the testy mood of Trump’s triumphant courtiers at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, a place I once enjoyed but now fear.   [Read more…]

Resistance Efforts Turn Towards City Council Over Trump Travel Ban

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On Tuesday, February 14, the San Diego City Council will vote on whether to join the Washington State lawsuit challenging the Trump Travel Ban. Local activists are being asked to support this effort by contacting City Council members and attending a hearing on the matter.

Although a unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a temporary restraining order preventing enforcement of a ban on travel from some Muslim-majority nations, the suit challenging the executive order continues to move forward.

One year ago the very idea of San Diego joining this lawsuit would not have been considered. The election of Mara Elliott as City Attorney has changed the political landscape.   [Read more…]

Hiking as Resistance

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Over the last few weeks I’ve had the pleasure of speaking at a variety of forums along with folks from other activist groups about what needs to be done in the age of Trump. During one of these events at Grossmont College, I was struck by something a colleague of mine who leads nature expeditions for the Sierra Club said about his students and their relationship or lack thereof to the natural world.

Ten years ago, he observed, about half of the students he dealt with had had some experience hiking in the backcountry, roaming the desert, or visiting a state or national park, but that number has been consistently shrinking over the last decade or so.

He told a few stories of students on their first venture into the wild being afraid of getting attacked by mountain lions. Initially many of them are not sure what to do or how to act outside of the city. The experience, he explained, is uncomfortable for them at first, but, after some reassurance and education, they open their eyes to the wonder of the world.   [Read more…]

Weekly Progressive Calendar for San Diego: February 10-22, 2017

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Over Two Dozen Ways to Get Involved and Make Your Voice Heard

Congratulations, resistees! We have survived 1.4% of Donald Trump’s (only) four-year term. It’s more important than ever to remember we’re involved in a marathon, not a sprint.

The latest polling results are out as I write this, and they offer encouragement for those of us involved in this movement. Support for impeaching the president has risen from 40% to 46% in the past week. NBC’s Saturday Night Live comedy now has more credibility than the man in the oval office.

Congress-critters from around the country, even those in so-called safe districts are seeing angry voters whenever they appear in public. And when they won’t appear in public –we’re talking about you, Darrell Issa– congressional town halls sans congress-critters are being organized.   [Read more…]

In This Post-Filner Era, the Democratic Party and the Labor Council Need to Do Better

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An open letter to Jessica Hayes, (Chair, San Diego Democratic Party) and Dale Kelly Bankhead (Secretary-Treasurer for the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council), from Sara Kent.

Over the past two months, I have hoped for brave action from each of you. As women who hold positions of power in San Diego who should be stalwarts of fundamental Democratic ideals, instead of being proud of your leadership, I am gravely disappointed.

Not only for you, but for all of us.   [Read more…]

Dueling Downtown Protests Set as Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Escalates

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Guadalupe García de Rayos was taken into custody by agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Phoenix during a routine check-in with the agency on Wednesday.

Seven people were arrested as dozens of immigration activists blocked the gates surrounding the office in an effort to stop several vans and a bus from leaving. The mother of two was photographed attempting to communicate with her children from inside one of the vehicles, which are used to transport people in ICE custody to detention centers, or to Arizona’s border with Mexico for deportation.

Observers fear this could be the beginning of a nationwide crackdown, targeting as many as 8 million people.   [Read more…]

Top 10 Companies to Boycott Because of Trump Products or Money

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There is a nation-wide group that is organizing a boycott of companies that carry Trump products, or are owned by Trump or have other relationships with him. It’s call #GrabYourWallet and they believe economic push-back by American citizens and others is a very valid form of protest.

Their campaign has already been going on for nearly 4 months now and it has achieved some successes. Here is how they describe themselves and their history:

The #GrabYourWallet movement tracks & boycotts retailers that sell Trump family products as well as corporate leaders who enabled the political rise of the Trump family through fundraising and/or endorsements.

  [Read more…]

‘Nevertheless, She Persisted.’ One Heck of a Resist Trump Tuesday

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Indivisible Gets Visible at Local Congressional Offices, National City Hearing

Mitch McConnell and his Republican friends in the United States Senate handed the resistance movement a gift on Tuesday night when they invoke an obscure rule to silence Sen. Elizabeth Warren as she read from a letter by Coretta Scott King concerning the record of Attorney General nominee Jeff Sessions.

The letter was addressed to then-Sen. Strom Thurmond in 1986. In it, King objected to Sessions nomination to be a federal judge due to his use of “the power of his office as United States Attorney to intimidate and chill the free exercise of the ballot by citizens.” King continued, “Mr. Sessions has used the awesome powers of this office in a shabby attempt to intimidate and frighten elderly black voters.”   [Read more…]

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